Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Of the myriad things Connelly does superbly as a crime writer, perhaps one of the least heralded is his ability to bring characters together from different series. Many writers have attempted this gambit, but too often it winds up feeling artificial, like a mere guest-star turn. Not so with Connelly, who first brought then–LAPD detective Harry Bosch together with lawyer Mickey Haller, adding backstory and depth to both characters, and who now introduces Harry to Renée Ballard, from The Late Show (2017). Bosch is retired from the LAPD now and working cold cases for the San Fernando PD, while Ballard continues to toil on the night shift. They meet when Harry is discovered by Renée doing some surreptitious snooping in department files. Harry can't stay away from an extremely cold case involving the rape and murder of a teenage prostitute in Hollywood; Renée, intrigued by the case and with her own reasons for pursuing abusers and killers of women, teams up with Harry off the books. Meanwhile, both cops have cases on their front burners that could play havoc with their lives and careers. Connelly does what he has always done over 31 previous novels, from taking extreme care with procedural detail, showing cops digging for facts wherever they can be found, through getting inside his characters' heads and revealing a nest of ambiguity as well as dark sides ever eager to express themselves. So it happens here, as Bosch, attempting to follow his personal creed—Everybody counts or nobody counts—wanders into some very deep water. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: A guaranteed chart-topper again for Connelly, as the success of the Amazon Prime series Bosch heads into production for its fifth season, creating more synergy for the books, which continue as strong as ever. Copyright 2018 Booklist Reviews.
BookPage Reviews
Dark Sacred Night
Cold cases are a running theme this month, as Michael Connelly pairs series stalwart Harry Bosch with Renée Ballard in their first (but hopefully not their last) adventure together, Dark Sacred Night. Ballard first showed up in 2017's The Late Show as a solo act, but she and Bosch work exceptionally well as a duo, investigating the unsolved 2009 murder of a young runaway. The case holds a personal component for Bosch, as the mother of the murdered girl is staying at his house. There aren't many clues available after the passage of so much time, but Bosch is dogged in his pursuit, and his personal creed—everybody counts or nobody counts—gets a run for its money this time out. Connelly does an exceptional job of giving voice to both his protagonists. They share a bit of an outsider's perspective—respected for their work but not always liked by their peers—and this is what makes them such a formidable team. My favorite Connelly books pair Bosch with protagonists from his other books, like Mickey Haller in The Lincoln Lawyer, and this latest pairing is truly inspired.
This article was originally published in the December 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.
Copyright 2018 BookPage Reviews.
Kirkus Reviews
Harry Bosch, who just can't stay retired, unwillingly teams up with a Hollywood detective who has reasons of her own for wanting in on his latest cold case. It may be nine years since 15-year-old runaway Daisy Clayton was grabbed from the streets of Los Angeles and killed, but the daily presence of her mother, Elizabeth, in Harry's life—she's staying at his place while he helps her stay clean—makes it a foregone conclusion that he'll reopen the case. On the night Bosch drops into Hollywood Division to sneak a look at some of the old files, he's caught by Detective Renée Ballard, who was bounced from LAPD Robbery/Homicide to "the late show," Hollywood's third shift, after her complaint about aggressive harassment by a superior went nowhere. Bosch needs to find out who was responsible for what happened to Daisy; Ballard needs to work a case with teeth, even if she's partnering with a reserve investigator in the San Fernando Police Department (Two Kinds of Truth , 2017, etc.) who'd rather work alone. Before they get what they need, they'll have to wade through a double caseload as grueling and sometimes as maddeningly routine as you can imagine, from an apparent murder that turns out to be a slip-and-fall to an ancient gang killing whose repercussions flare to sudden life to the theft of some valuable Andy Warhol prints to a missing man who's not just missing—not to mention Elizabeth's sudden disappearance and Ballard's continuing lack of support, and sometimes even backup, from her department. Not even the canniest readers are likely to see which of these byways will end up leading to the long-overdue solution to the riddle of Daisy Clayton's death. Fans who don't think the supporting cases run away with the story will marvel at Connelly's remarkable ability to keep them all not only suitably mystifying, but deeply humane, as if he were the Ross Macdonald of the police procedural. Copyright Kirkus 2018 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.
Library Journal Reviews
Working the night beat, Det. Renée Ballard wearily makes her way back to Hollywood Station, only to find retired detective Harry Bosch going through old file cabinets, obsessing over a cold case involving the murder of a 15-year-old runaway. First, she throws him out, then they join forces.
Copyright 2018 Library Journal.Library Journal Reviews
Night shift detective Renée Ballard (
Publishers Weekly Reviews
LAPD Det. Renée Ballard, first seen in 2017's